Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
Flash photography!

Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
Shady characters

Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Monday 7 July 2008

Warden’s Watch: Journey’s End


Disappointment set in right from the outset of the concluding episode of the Fourth Season of Russell T. Davies’s reincarnation of “Doctor Who”. I wanted the writer to go through with the regeneration and have a brand new Doctor conclude a story begun by his predecessor. But, it wasn’t to be. In fact, instead of having no David Tennant, we were actually presented with two of the pesky fella! And, there was me wishfully thinking he was about to get another week off!! It’s not that I dislike the actor, just not overly keen on his portrayal of the character, although I’ve grown to accept it a little more over the recent series. As if to compound my dissatisfaction with the opening of the final instalment, up pops Rose’s Mum, Jackie. Lovely woman and all that, just not my cup of tea. Very convenient, too, that both Rose’s ex, Mickey, and Mrs Tyler should appear, out of the blue, armed to the teeth, guns aimed directly at the two Daleks about to exterminate the suddenly-rather-fragile Sarah Jane Smith. The suddenly-rather-comely Gwen Cooper was also saved by something hitherto unmentioned that the late Toshiko had been working on before her death. Altogether, too convenient. At least, in the case of the Doctor, the resolution of his part in the previous episode’s triple cliff-hanger had been properly set up, that the hand would have its part to play in the denouement of the adventure. The other two instances were cheats, like a whodunit in which the murderer is revealed to be someone who hasn’t appeared in the story until the moment of revelation! It’s not the first time “Doctor Who” has resolved certain demise with the Saturday morning cinema serial approach. 1985’s “The Mark of the Rani” immediately springs to mind, in which a character is inserted into the recap, at the start of the final part, rushing out of a wood to save the seemingly doomed Doctor from the clutches of dastardly death!

Just imagine how different the episode might’ve been had a new dynamic been set up by suddenly, and surprisingly, introducing us to the eleventh Doctor. It would have taken the story, and indeed the series, in a completely new and much welcomed change of direction. I suppose Russell wasn’t ready to do that just yet and, instead, presented the viewer with the ultimate tease. A simple rule of drama is the tighter you tighten the tension, when the balloon is burst, it’s more than likely to be something of a let down. Davies made it hard for the story to recover from this point in and, sadly, it didn’t. Robert Holmes turned down the offer to write “The Five Doctors”, in 1983, citing too many leading men as the reason. And, despite there being plenty of space, the console room of the TARDIS became overcrowded in “Journey’s End” through the writer’s inability to resist this shameless get-together. Because of this, the participation of Davros is restricted. The scientific schemer doesn’t reappear, after last week’s reintroduction following an absence from our screens of almost twenty years, until nearly twenty minutes into the extended second half of the story and is despatched approximately twenty-five minutes later with still over fifteen minutes to run. Yes, on second viewing, I was watching the clock. A whopping twenty-five percent of the final episode is taken up with tearful farewells, making it even more soppy than the gushing conclusion of “Doomsday”, two years ago. On the plus side, Julian Bleach was terrific as Davros and, maybe, deserved more air time considering the iconic stature of the character within the series. Unless you believe less is more which, in just about every other aspect of the production, wasn’t the case. The other standout performance, and not just here but throughout the entire Fourth Season, was that of Bernard Cribbins, a consistently strong character. I like him. I could’ve done with a little more of Eve Myles in her red sweater, too, but that’s a personal preference rather than a dramatic one! Like the two Peter Cushing movies of the Sixties, this was good Dalek material whilst being lousy “Doctor Who”.

6 comments:

Rol said...

I must admit, I filled up at Bernard Cribbins' final scene - it was a nice touch to have him be the last one the Doctor says farewell to.

Steve said...

I agree, TimeWarden... RTD descended as usual into soapy sentiment and the solutions were, as you say, far too easy and inconvenient. Rose gets her own doctor too.. ahh. At least that draws a line effectively underneath Rose Tyler. As for Donna - I didn't want her to be written out if I'm honest but as they were going to do it anyway I think I'd rather she got killed off properly... there was something horribly diminishing about her fate. Best scene? Bernard Cribbins. Very definitely.

TimeWarden said...

I hope we see Bernard again, Rol. If anything, his loyalty to what the Doctor is supposed to stand for seemed greater than that of any of the companions.

I pray this is the last we see of Rose (apart from repeats!), Steve, who seemed to accept the Doctor substitute all too readily. Not an overly fussy girl, then, when it comes to relationships!

As for Donna, this wasn't the first time a companion has had their memories, of time spent with the Doctor, erased. It was done much more cleanly, and thus effectively, with Jamie and Zoë back in 1969! But, I agree, Donna's fate was undeserved and, also, completely undermined Dalek Caan's prophecy.

"Doctor Who" is supposed to tell ultimately optimistic tales. I've even heard Russell state this as the reason for not killing Rose two years ago. Yet, almost everything here seemed tinged with the negative and left wanting. Unsatisfying!

Old Cheeser said...

Sorry that you gents found it disappointing. I rather enjoyed it and thought it was a marked improvement on last season's not so Masterful climax (perhaps a Masterful climax from Gwen might have floated your boat, though, Tim?!? Okay, enough!!)

Okay, so it wasn't a classic - like you I thought the no-regeneration thing was a bit of a swizz and having a second Dr on hand to help out was rather too handy. Apart from the bit you mention in which they zap the Daleks, Jackie and Mickey's return felt kind of pointless and they didn't do very much. And some of the other companions also seemed rather underused,in spite of the hands-on TARDIS scene (although the fan in me was glad to see them all back - and great to see K9 making a cameo too!) Rose's presence was...well...kind of swamped by everything else that went on, and the Return to Bad Wolf Bay scene felt a bit too familiar. And yeah, getting a Dr Number 2 to snog made it nice n'easy...

BUT - criticisms aside, Davros was great (even though as you say Tim he could have had more screen time), I liked the "helping to fly the Earth back home" bit and the fabulous accompanying choral music, there were some good individual scenes and I loved Dr-Donna's rapid fire defeat of the Daleks and her rapid fire speaking!

As for Donna's demise, yes it WAS horrible, but then, wasn't that the whole point? Having her forget everything that happened and revert back to an unchallenged temp from Chiswick rendered her whole situation far more tragic than just being blown up, Adric style (personally I think it was the best thing that happened to him ...!)I know what you mean about the negativity, but isn't it good not to say more realistic, to NOT have an entirely happy ending sometimes? (And on the bright side they did manage to defeat the Daleks and return the planets to their rightful place, which is something isn't it? If Martha had had her way, the whole of planet Earth would have been nuked!!)

James Diggs said...

Well, I didn't read your whole post because I haven't seen the last three episodes yet. But, I do know Davros shows up along with everyone else. I get the impression that my biggest fear of the finale being too over crowded to tell a good story might be true.

We will just have to see.

Peace,

James

TimeWarden said...

That's a lot of criticisms there, Simon, with which I agree. So, I rest my case.

Davros was, indeed, excellent, proving the need for appropriate casting!

Did the choral music remind you of the end of the "Space: 1999" episode "The Testament of Arkadia", by any chance?

I found Donna's rapid-fire speaking grating, to be honest. The manner of her demise renders reruns pointless, in the knowledge that, essentially, it's all just a dream!

I'm not against sad endings. One of the reasons I like "UFO" is because most of the episode endings are downbeat. But, like last year, the "Doctor Who" season finale left me with a bitter taste in the mouth!

The TARDIS console room was very overcrowded, James, despite the transcendental nature of the ship! Hope you'll read the post, if you'd like to, once you've seen the closing episodes.